


Boy Problems

by stplatinum



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-28 23:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13914150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stplatinum/pseuds/stplatinum
Summary: Two teenage girls talk about boy problems and their Vault's rite of passage into adulthood.





	Boy Problems

**Author's Note:**

> It's not necessary to read my other fan fic, Noli Me Tangere, to understand this fic, but this fic does have some foreshadowing about some things that'll happen in the future. There's also some world building in this fic.

“Sasha, let’s get out of here! It’s boring as hell.”

Helena looked amazing in her new _baro’t saya_. Yellow and green, just as she had asked the tailor to make. She looked immaculate, save for the shit-eating grin on her face.

“What trouble do you want to get into now, Helena?” Sasha asked. “Let’s at least stay until the cake cutting.”

“Screw that,” Helena insisted. “I’ve got two bottles of vodka and whiskey—two bottles _each_ —hidden in a rock underneath the old Joshua tree.”

“By the water pump?” Sasha whispered. _Now_ she was interested. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

Making sure their parents didn’t see them, Helena and Sasha slipped away from the old pre-war high school into the cool dark night. The Payao Area High School was nearly renovated, but only half of the classrooms were used for teaching. Sasha herself was going to school there in the mornings and training with the Vault doctor in the afternoons.

It was too late for Helena—she had already “graduated” from her schooling, but even if the school had opened in time, she would have still been homeschooled in the sacred art of being a Vault 60 _datu_ instead.

The gym, however, had seen much more traffic compared to the rest of the high school. They used it for wedding ceremonies and town hall meetings every Thursday night. That night in particular, a distant cousin had come back from his debut and brought home a handsome husband.

There were whispers (there were always whispers), but _Lola_ Rosaline and Helena’s mother Dolores were quick to show their support. No one dared speak against the word of two _datus_.

Many years ago, Sasha and her mother had been under the same scrutiny from the other families. Sasha was too young to remember the specifics, but she remembered the names the other kids used to called her. It had been Helena who stepped in every time without fail to defend her. Right from the day Sasha moved to Vault 60, Helena treated her like a cousin. No, like a sister.

And just like sisters, they were about to get smashed underneath the stars and hold each other’s hair as they took turns throwing up in the toilet later that night.  

Helena led her through the dimly lit streets of Payao, far away from the high school. Sasha was sure that in Helena’s mind, she was going at a casual strolling pace, but Sasha was half a foot shorter than Helena. She was nearly jogging behind the taller girl to keep up.

“Help me push this rock,” Helena hissed, beckoning Sasha towards her.

Sasha walked a little faster and pushed so hard her foot slipped out of her shoe and into the dirt below. “Fuck!” she gasped.

“Did you cut your foot? I got vodka for that,” Helena said, pulling out a bottle.

“No, I think I just scraped it. Kind of mad about my shoe, though.” Sasha picked up the white sandal and tried to brush away the damp earth only to find that it had already stained.

“Wanna try pouring alcohol on it?” Helena said.

“How is that going to help?”

“I don’t know _how_ , but I know that this stuff tastes like disinfectant. At least your shoe will be germ-free.”

Neither of them had anything to drink yet, but they were already laughing and shaking uncontrollably as Helena poured a glug of vodka on the shoe. Unsurprisingly, it did absolutely nothing to help the stain.

“Let’s just drink it, stupid,” Sasha said, grabbing the bottle from her older cousin’s hands and taking a big swig.

They hiked up their dresses to avoid getting them dirty and sat on the cool grass nearby. Sasha had been wearing shorts underneath, but despite this entire outing being her idea, Helena did not. So, she sat on the grass cross-legged on her shoes to avoid getting her dress dirty.

 _What would the rest of the Vault think of they saw us like this?_ Sasha wondered. _The future datu and the future Vault doctor sneaking out of their family member’s wedding to drink cheap vodka?_

“For someone so eager to sneak out and drink, you are taking some embarrassingly small sips,” Sasha said.

“Yeah, I think I prefer beer more. This stuff’s making me kind of itchy, to be honest. Are you feeling okay?”

Sasha shrugged. “I don’t feel a thing at all.”

“Weird,” Helena said. “You can keep that bottle, then. I feel like my necks on fire or something.”

“Lightweight,” Sasha said. “I’m sufficiently drunk now, though. Wanna talk about boys?”

Helena scoffed. “Why did I know you were going to say that?”

“Talk to me about boys please, Helena,” Sasha begged, inching closer to Helena and resting her head on her shoulder. “I’m a mess, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Boys are easy,” Helena said. “You just ignore them. And if you find yourself thinking of them too often, just drink.”

“God, if I die of alcohol poisoning or long-term liver damage, I’m going to tell everyone that it was _Datu_ Helena that killed me.”

“Fine, fine, dumbass, what do you want to talk about? Or, rather, who do you want to talk about? There is a total of five boys from Vault 60 our age and all of them are related to us,” Helena said.

“That’s my problem!” Sasha cried. “What if the family sends me off into the wasteland, and I don’t come back with anybody?”

“What would be so wrong about that? You can come back without a partner,” Helena said. “No shame in that.”

“I don’t care about shame! What I don’t want is to grow old alone, Helena. That wedding was beautiful. I want that for myself. I want a beautiful ceremony and a beautiful dress, and I want to invite people to my beautiful wedding and make them cry. God, I was fucking crying like a baby, Helena.”

Helena laughed. “Yeah, you were. You are _so_ ugly when you cry. It’s horrible. Your face was all red and shit.”

“It’s not funny, Helena—I’m being serious here. I don’t want to be single my whole life.”

“Jesus,” Helena muttered, snatching the bottle of vodka from Sasha’s hands. “No more of this. You’re being ridiculous right now. You sound like that del Rosario girl—the dumb blonde one.”

Helena giggled at her own joke. She hated everything Lovella del Rosario and took any and all opportunities to drag the girl through the mud. Sasha couldn’t blame Helena. Lovella was pretty annoying. Pretty as hell, but her attitude was straight up rotten. She hated everything that didn’t look or act like her: Hated dark skin, hated black hair, hated Sasha’s red hair (Sasha was the only ginger in Vault 60), hated _the gays_. Sasha was surprised she didn’t crash the wedding reception to terrorize the newlywed couple.

But then again, del Rosarios hardly leave the vault or venture into the valley to mingled with the Vault dwellers who settled in Payao. Lovella’s entire family was perfect for a longitudinal study on cabin fever. Sooner or later, they were going to break.

“It’s easy for you to be so act so casual about this. You’re tall and pretty, and you have boobs. I have cystic acne.”

“Stop that, don’t talk about yourself like that. You’re beautiful and smart. And…truth be told, I’m worried about the same thing, too. I just don’t show it.” Helena pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “I think about finding a nice guy out there and just…knowing. I see him, and I know it’s _him_.”

“No way. You seriously believe in love at first sight?”

“Well, I don’t have any personal proof it doesn’t exist. I’m certainly open to the idea.”

“Fair enough. Go on. Wax poetic to me, please.”

“Oh, Sasha, I dream about it every night. _Every_ night. I think about how nice it would be to fall asleep next to the man I love, wake up tangled in each other’s arms, and—well, you know. Doing _other_ things.”

“Why are you giving me the censored version of this? This isn’t what I paid for.”

“You didn’t pay for shit.”

Sasha pointed at the bottle of vodka in Helena’s hand.

“ _I_ gave this to you.”

“Oh, right.”

“You can get the full unadulterated version in my diary, don’t worry,” Helena snickered. “I only have three months until my 18th birthday, and then I’ll be expected to leave. At least you have half a year before you have to go out.”

Sasha wrapped her arms around Helena and buried her face in her neck. “I’m scared, Helena. I don’t want to grow up. I don’t want to leave the Vault. I just want to stay here with you.”

Helena placed a hand on her head. “I know. I know.” She kissed Sasha’s forehead. “At least when you come back, you don’t have to be _datu_. I can barely take care of myself. How am I going to take care of a family and a vault?”

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short about two characters from my Vault! 
> 
> For those unfamiliar with Filipino traditional dresses, this is along the lines of what Sasha and Helena's baro't saya would look like: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47875628@N00/1496422290 
> 
> They're itchy and hot as hell to wear, but damn if they aren't beautiful!
> 
> Also, Helena has Asian flush. LMAO


End file.
